Saturday, April 10, 2010

Cervical Cancer Treatments

A form of cancer, which affects the cervix (i.e. a part of the female reproductive system) is a slow growing tumor caused almost always due to an infection of Human Papilloma Virus. The other predisposing factors include early sexual activity, having multiple sexual partners, prolonged use of oral contraceptive pills, infection due to sexually transmitted diseases, and smoking.

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Cervical cancer, that is cancer of the cervix, is a type of cancer that is slow to develop, and targets, as you would expect, the cervix. Since this is an important part of the female anatomy, it is best to know what your options are when trying to design a cervical cancer treatment plan. The first option that should naturally come to mind is surgery.

Regular follow-up exams; including a pelvic exam, a pap test, and other laboratory tests, are very important for any woman who has been treated for changes to the cervix or for cervical cancer. The woman should have frequent tests and exams for several years so that the doctor can check for any signs that the condition has returned. Cancer treatment can cause side effects many years later.

The cervix is the lower and narrow part of the uterus that opens into the vagina. Cervical cancer or cancer of the cervix is a reality for hundreds and thousands of women all over the world. Cancer of cervix is a slow progressing disease and takes a few years to develop.

There probably can be no better reason for a paps test for women that the fact that if you catch cervical cancer cells early on you can take care of it fairly easily and on an outpatient basis. Over the last 40 years deaths from cervical cancer in the United States have become rare.

Once treatment has concluded, depending on the type of treatment and the stage that the cervical cancer was in, you will most likely feel some side effects. Here are a few, based on the three most common treatments: surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Surgery It takes time to heal after surgery, and the recovery time is different for each woman.

The affected cells of the cervix are removed from the body and also the doctor takes measures to prevent the occurrence of the disease. As the cancer is characterized by the presence of tumor cells and these cells have to be completely destroyed for the normal functioning again. Usually surgery takes place after the treatment of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Surgery is done in order to remove all the cancerous cells that are still present even after the procedure of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Cancer centers like John Hopkins Cancer Treatment Center, Cancer Treatments Centers Of America, University of New Mexico, and the many others, that can be located at the Nation Cancer Institute, all provide valuable information of what kind of treatments, and care, are available to a person with cancer. Several cancer treatment centers are available for cancer victims who have been diagnosed with the disease. The majority of these cancer treatment centers provide different treatment options, including conventional and holistic, for therapy purposes for cancer and the patients body, mind, and spirit.

Cervical and breast cancer are two types of cancer which not only affect a woman physically but mentally too e.g. dealing with all the trauma after being diagnosed with the disease. A large percentage of women admit to living in fear of the big C, however cervical or breast cancer free women admit that the thought of contacting the disease never leaves their thoughts.

Once someone has been diagnosed with cervical cancer, they often wonder (along with treatment options, recovery time, and lifestyle changes) what their prognosis or their chance of recovery is and how long they will live. This is a fair question and cervical cancer prognosis depends on a number of different things such as: the stage of the cancer (whether it affects part of the cervix, involves the whole cervix, or has spread to the lymph nodes or other places in the body).